Who is the first Red Sox First Baseman you can remember?

Martin and Woods

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I remember being very concerned about Yaz "moving" to LF. I expressed this to my father who, with a big grin on his face, said something along the lines of: Don't worry, I think Yaz knows what he is doing out there
Not only did Yaz go back out to left field in '75 and practically beat the A's in the ALCS with his glove alone, he became the regular left fielder again in '77. And won the Gold Glove. At the age of 38. In his sleep indeed.
 

PrometheusWakefield

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Buckner.

The first second baseman is Barrett, the first shortstop is Spike Owen, the first third basemen is Boggs, the first catcher is Gedman.

A bit of a theme there.
 

lexrageorge

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George Scott 1.0. Was bummed when they traded him to Milwaukee. Was even more bummed the same offseason when they traded Sparky Lyle for their next 1B, Danny Cater, under questionable circumstances.
 

tc1072

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Buckner here. And wow, going back and looking at his stats (back in '86-when I truly got into baseball and totally fell in love with the Sox, he was only .267./.311/.733, how he managed 102 RBI by today's standards is mind-boggling-different eras I guess), our last few First Basemen people weren't happy with look like studs against that slash line. Again different Eras, going back to BBRef https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1986.shtml for that season makes a lot of my Red Sox childhood heros look merely mortal when stacked up to today's numbers....
 

glasspusher

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I have heard that Mo was the first guy to really break the color barrier with the Red Sox. Since 99.99% of my sox fandom has been outside of Boston, can anyone speak to this possibly apocryphal tidbit?
 

charlieoscar

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Buckner here. And wow, going back and looking at his stats (back in '86-when I truly got into baseball and totally fell in love with the Sox, he was only .267./.311/.733, how he managed 102 RBI by today's standards is mind-boggling-different eras I guess),..
Well, he was helped by runners on base. In '86 there were 551 ROB when he batted (283/187/81 -- 1st/2nd/3rd).
 

Monbonthbump

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Dick Gernert was the first I saw live. As mentioned previously, he just passed this past November. I'm surprised no old timers mentioned Harry Agannis who tragically died of pneumonia just as he was getting started. Everyone said he would have been one of the greatest.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I have heard that Mo was the first guy to really break the color barrier with the Red Sox. Since 99.99% of my sox fandom has been outside of Boston, can anyone speak to this possibly apocryphal tidbit?
Not sure what this means.

1967 Sox had George Scott at First Base and Joe Foy at 3B. Reggie Smith in CF and John Wyatt at Closer. And they picked up Elston Howard at Catcher near the trade deadline.
 

Marbleheader

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Mo was probably the first black player to be THE guy on the Red Sox. Clubhouse leader, face of the franchise, MVP level ability if that's what you mean.

Tony Perez for me, 1981 was the first season I followed closely, collected the team Topps set, etc.
 

BuellMiller

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Buckner here. And wow, going back and looking at his stats (back in '86-when I truly got into baseball and totally fell in love with the Sox, he was only .267./.311/.733, how he managed 102 RBI by today's standards is mind-boggling-different eras I guess), our last few First Basemen people weren't happy with look like studs against that slash line. Again different Eras, going back to BBRef https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1986.shtml for that season makes a lot of my Red Sox childhood heros look merely mortal when stacked up to today's numbers....
His 102 RBI were certainly helped by hitting #3 behind a guy in Boggs who got on base 45% of the time, with a lot of doubles, and few HRs to clean the bases. 223 PA's with RISP, and hit .242/.305/.340, for 78 RBIs. (Although, in fairness, he did hit a good number of solo homers (11), and 2 run homers (5) so that he wasn't completely reliant on Barrett and Boggs getting on base in front of him). But they probably still could have gotten more runs if they had say swapped Evans (6th) and BB in the lineup.
 

Al Zarilla

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Not sure what this means.

1967 Sox had George Scott at First Base and Joe Foy at 3B. Reggie Smith in CF and John Wyatt at Closer. And they picked up Elston Howard at Catcher near the trade deadline.
I remember zero about John Wyatt. I went to 10 games at Fenway that year, and watched a lot on TV. According to BBREF, he threw 93.1 innings, a lot for a reliever, had 20 saves and a 10-7 record. If you asked me cold what the starting lineup was, I’d easily name all but Mike Ryan, but I sure missed/forget Wyatt.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Mo was probably the first black player to be THE guy on the Red Sox. Clubhouse leader, face of the franchise, MVP level ability if that's what you mean.
Jim Rice wasn't that? Maybe he didn't quite reach "face of the franchise" level playing with Yaz then Boggs and Clemens, but he won as many MVPs as Vaughn. I think the only thing Vaughn had over Rice is he was more gregarious and media-friendly, which probably translated to a greater popularity among the overall fan base.
 

patinorange

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I remember zero about John Wyatt. I went to 10 games at Fenway that year, and watched a lot on TV. According to BBREF, he threw 93.1 innings, a lot for a reliever, had 20 saves and a 10-7 record. If you asked me cold what the starting lineup was, I’d easily name all but Mike Ryan, but I sure missed/forget Wyatt.
It's weird what you remember. I have clear recollection of listening to the Sox in the back of the old man's station wagon. Bob Tillman was trying to throw someone out stealing second. He hit John Wyatt in the head.

Wyatt was a pretty good reliever. Tillman, not so good.
 

joe.daggett

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Nov 18, 2006
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Gernert. I'm pretty old; saw my first game at Fenway in May of 1953: Maurice McDermott pitched for Boston, Ewell "The Whip" Blackwell for New York. Mantle homered. If I'm not mistaken, it was Dominic DiMaggio's last game -- he pinch-hit. ## A post above claims Stuart hit a homer near the Buck Printing sign. No way. We old guys remember; a string of several Williams-red-seat homers wouldn't have reached that far. Just look at the standard postcard from the 1950's that show where the Buck Printing sign was.
 

MtPleasant Paul

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Billy Goodman. He played there more than anyone else in 1948 and 1949 when he was 22 and 23. First base was hardly a power position when he played it. He had one home run one of those years but he had a 414 OBP in another.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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Jim Rice wasn't that? Maybe he didn't quite reach "face of the franchise" level playing with Yaz then Boggs and Clemens, but he won as many MVPs as Vaughn. I think the only thing Vaughn had over Rice is he was more gregarious and media-friendly, which probably translated to a greater popularity among the overall fan base.
Rice had a lot more competition for the role. When he was young, he was competing with Lynn, Fisk, and Yaz; later on, Evans, Boggs and Clemens. In Vaughn's heyday, before Nomar came along, he really had no competition. John Valentin was actually the better player of the two, but that wasn't the public perception--at best, Valentin was kind of Robin to Vaughn's Batman.
 

Leather

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Benzinger. While I was aware of the Sox from 1986 on, 1988 is when I really started paying attention. My father mailed me updates in the streak and standings when I was at summer camp (Camp Lawrence! Lake Winnipesauke!) so it was the first team I really felt an attachment to. Also the first year I started collecting baseball cards, which helped. A year notable for having guys in the running for all three major awards (Greenwell, Reed, Clemens) and losing two of them to the team that smoked them in the postseason.
 

rlsb

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charlieoscar

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For all you people who mentioned George Scott as the first first baseman for the Red Sox you remembered, he broke into the minors with Olean (Class D) in 1962, splitting his time almost equally between 3B and 2B and it wasn't until 1964 before he played some (24 games) at 1B. In between, he also saw time at SS.

As for his rookie season,1966, with the Red Sox, he started at 3B in games 1, 3, and 4 of his career and pinch hit in game 2.
 

alydar

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Mo Vaughn.

I remember a few years ago, the Sox were playing at Fenway on Jackie Robinson day. NESN showed a view of the infield from the right field camera, and upon seeing a Sox player (Napoli, probably) at first base wearing number 42, I immediately thought - there's Mo Vaughn! Weird, because if you had just asked me what number Vaughn wore, I wouldn't have remembered. Sure enough, he was one of the last to wear 42.
Also, Molybdenum (Mo) is number 42 on the periodic table.
 

Al Zarilla

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Dick Stuart(Dr. Strangeglove) But my first season really following the Sox was 1965 so Lee Thomas was the first baseman that year.
I was sitting right behind the first base dugout one game when Stuart was playing first. I decided to watch him for a while. First, he was standing straight up with all of his weight on one foot. Then, he’d shift to the other foot. Then back again. He did this all while the pitcher was throwing to home plate, never getting into any kind of a fielding position. But, at the plate, he could jump all over a fastball!
 

Rowdy

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Jul 16, 2005
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Coop or the Boomer. I’m sure my nuts are still laying in a Massachusetts sandlot trying to do the Boomer’s split
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Rice had a lot more competition for the role. When he was young, he was competing with Lynn, Fisk, and Yaz; later on, Evans, Boggs and Clemens. In Vaughn's heyday, before Nomar came along, he really had no competition. John Valentin was actually the better player of the two, but that wasn't the public perception--at best, Valentin was kind of Robin to Vaughn's Batman.
Also, Mo was a bit more active in the community than Rice. He also called out the Boston bullshit when he saw it a lot more than Rice. From what I remember Jim Rice was a bit introverted and felt that he did his talking at the plate. Mo Vaughn was the defacto team leader on most of those 90s Red Sox teams. When writers needed a quote, they went to Mo. Rice wasn't comfortable around the press and would issue no comments or really short statements that didn't say much. Yaz, Tiant, Boggs and others did most of the talking when Rice was a member of the Sox.

Mo Vaughn was a force on and off the field for the Boston Red Sox and did a lot of work in changing the perception of both the city and the team. You can make the argument that while he wasn't a Hall of Famer by any means and might not have been the best player on his team, Mo Vaughn might be one of the most important athletes to come through Boston in the last 50 years.
 

Monbonthbump

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Enjoyed reading this thread. For those of those who are of the Gernert/Dropo/Zauchin/Vernon era like myself-congratulations on learning how to use the internet and actually make posts. It was somewhat a chore for me. And it is sort of sad that one name was missing from the thread-I am talking about Big Sam Horn (who I actually saw play live despite only seeing a dozen or so live Red Sox games in my entire life).